[net.railroad] Cab Signals and Micro-Cabooses

Chip@rochester.ARPA (11/13/86)

Two "technical" railroad questions:

1.  How do in-cab block signal indicators work; that is, what signals are
sent (I assume) through the rails for each of the possible signal
indications?  It must be in the rail and not openly transmitted, since trains
in adjacent blocks must read different indications.  I assume they are using
some type of carrier-detect mechanism, with no signal detected being the 
most restrictive indication, but I would like to find out the specific
frequencies and modulation types if that information is available.

2.  On what frequencies do the new micro-cabooses operate, and how to they
transmit the back-end pressure reading to the engines?  I like to listen to
the crewmen when they're building trains, and if possible, I'd like to be able
to pick up and decode the signals from these new devices since they will be
replacing the rear-end crew.   


Please mail responses directly to me, and I'll forward
them to anyone else who's interested.

Thanks!


Chip Copper			CSNET copper@bgsu.csnet
N8ECQ				UUCP  ...!osu-eddie!bgsuvax!copper
Department of Computer Science	ARPA  copper%bgsu@csnet-relay
Bowling Green State University